May 24th
If years aren’t brothers, then days aren’t identical twins either! By eleven, we were already on the move. The chemical toilet had been emptied. Water was taken into the tank. The vehicle was all set for the journey. We were promised variable weather, and indeed, we got it. At times, we could admire truly local, shower-like rain showers – and right after, bright, warm sunshine.
Our moods varied with the weather, especially as we started paying more attention to the car’s driving noises. Perhaps something went wrong in the front-end repair operation, or something was left undone – or could it be that the tires installed in the spring were poorly balanced – and noisy. Who knows. I’m not an auto mechanic, and I might be a bit sensitive to the vehicle’s sounds right now.
After some consideration, we decided to skip the Normandy coast. Instead, we’re heading straight to Calais and from there to England. There, with our language skills, we’re more likely to handle car check-ups. If straightening the route gives us a few extra days in Britain, that wouldn’t be a problem. At least not for us!
We’ll likely have to use toll roads again to reach our destination with minimal wear on the car. On the other hand, we’ve already driven quite a bit on small country roads and marveled at the French countryside. Today, however, we stumbled upon a two-thousand-year-old Roman theater in the city of Orange. That building had some age to it! It was futile to even imagine parking our motorhome anywhere nearby. We weren’t so interested as to start cycling into the city from afar – though perhaps we should have…
During the drive, my stomach started ato hurt. Fortunately, we had received the necessary remedies from Auli and Päivi. I took one pill, and it worked nicely. I could eat dinner. Eva made us a wonderful sauce with rice from yesterday’s chicken.
Now I can go lie down next to my wife and my stomach. Maybe I’ll sleep a good, long night. I won’t let the social and healthcare debate back home disturb my peace.